A BOLTON dad claims it is only a matter of time before there is a nasty accident in the street where he lives.

Early morning traffic uses the road "like a rat run" and in the evening young drivers think they are "on a race track" says Mr Colin Liptrott.

Ironically a recent resurfacing of the road by Bolton Council has improved things for the traffic, but caused more problems for the residents.

The 32-year-old dad of two believes the council should now introduce a traffic calming scheme in Holden Lea, Wingates, Westhoughton, to prevent fast cars.

"There have been several near misses because lots of children play in the street."

Mr Liptrott says rush-hour traffic uses the road to avoid traffic lights in Church Street. "It's just a continual stream of traffic."

Then in the evening young drivers arrive to drive up and down, "doing fast turns at the end of the road. We've just had a park built at the end of the road so it is attracting children. But they are in terrible danger.

"It has been a concern, for a long time, for many of the residents."

A council spokesman said: "The area was assessed some time ago in line with the council's traffic calming measures but did not have a high enough priority to qualify for the programme.

"We can re-assess it again but we do have more than 100 schemes in the programme already."

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